Front Street Breakthrough Changes City Skyline

Monday, May 21, 2012

Walter Bird Jr., GoLocalWorcester Reporter

This view from atop Sovereign bank captures city hall in the foreground and Union Station beyond it

It has been more than 40 years since you could walk or drive down Front Street and see clearly in front of you all the way to Union Station and Washington Square. That vista and pathway disappeared when the old Galleria at Worcester Center went up in 1971. Years later, the Worcester Common Fashion Outlets took its place – and the view remained blocked.

That is changing in a dramatic way.

Coming Into View

As GoLocalWorcester shows you in photos shot from high atop Sovereign Bank on Main Street and the Worcester Office Tower on Front Street, millions of dollars and years of construction have given way to a breakthrough on Front Street. Once more Union Station, appearing as glorious as ever, has been brought into view from city hall. When all is said and done, you’ll no longer have to navigate the twists and turns coming from the west side. Venturing in from the east, you can say goodbye to the maze of roads that are now the only way to city hall and Main Street.

“Worcester is on the move,” said Ryan Sweeney of Rutland, who works at Harleysville Insurance in Worcester along Front Street. “That mall was just taking up space. The revitalization is on. Print it.”

Upcoming Ceremony

Workers keep up the pace

City and state officials will celebrate a truly historic moment for the city with a ceremony Thursday, May 24 at 1 p.m. at the Front Street entrance of the old Worcester Common Outlets Mall. A who’s who of business leaders, community representatives, local and state politicians and passersby will be on hand to mark what Mayor Joseph Petty labeled “a significant milestone in the re-connection of Worcester’s east and west.” The progress “demonstrates the positive progress Worcester has seen in past few years and will continue to see in the future,” Petty said.

In a joint statement, Petty and Lt. Gov. and former Worcester Mayor Timothy Murray said “Worcester has always been a city of change and rebirth. We must start looking toward the next phase in Worcester’s history.”

Both men called Thursday’s event “an opportunity to reflect on the future of the city.”

'It's Awesome'

Standing outside the Worcester Office Tower during a break from work, Curtis Wright looked over toward the construction area, which is currently cordoned off with cement barriers and high netting, and said, “You know, I had never really thought of it.”

He can, however, see the work and the changing landscape every day from his fourth-floor office.

“I got to watch them take down the glass domes” of the old Worcester Common Outlets, Wright recalled.

Reflecting a bit longer, Wright smiled and said, “It’s kind of exciting.”

A panoramic view from the Sovereign Bank building looking down Front Street

Worcester resident Steve Baldwin, 43, paused a moment when asked his thoughts on the breakthrough. Standing in the middle of city common, he looked over toward the old mall area and did a double take.

“I didn’t even realize it until you just mentioned it,” he said. “That’s awesome. Now you can go straight through. I think it’s awesome.”

A man identifying himself only as Brian D. did Baldwin one better, saying he could remember to back when the area was open in the 1960s.

“I was driving down Front Street the other day and I was looking straight ahead and I said, ‘That looks familiar from a long time ago,’” Brian D. said of the view coming down Front Street toward the old mall. “It brought me back.”